


Catch A Flame To My Sentiment

by feraldanvers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-09 08:27:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1143780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feraldanvers/pseuds/feraldanvers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper's always been too much for Natasha—too good, too smart, too breakable—but things change, and so do the two of them, and it's not always easy for Natasha to remember why this would be a bad idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catch A Flame To My Sentiment

**Author's Note:**

> title from sentimental tune by tegan and sara

Natasha has read the file; she knows everything that happened starting well before Tony’s house got destroyed, and she knows how close Pepper came to dying before he figured out how to stabilize the effects of Extremis.

After the Avengers team debrief, though—right on the heels of a debrief on the events of the Convergence, because this team draws trouble like a magnet—she digs a little deeper, finds the classified footage from the Christmas Day battle on the Norco, and… well. She’d understood what Extremis could do; she'd already felt that uncomfortable twisting in her stomach at the knowledge that, while Natasha was radio silent on a S.H.I.E.L.D. op in Belarus, Pepper had come alarmingly close to becoming a human incendiary device.

That knowledge all seems uselessly academic as she stares at her screen, watching the orange glow under Pepper’s skin as she takes down Aldrich Killian. She knows what comes next, but before Stark can activate the self-destruct on his suits, she rewinds to the point where Pepper drags herself out of the flames, power clearly thrumming under her skin.

Natasha lets herself watch once more before shutting down the computer, heading to the cabinet, and pulling out her best vodka.

* * *

“You know you don’t have to put up with that, right?” Pepper’s smiling, exasperated, and Natasha is Natalie, and Tony is using flirting as a blatant coping mechanism, so it doesn’t seem tactically necessary to make him stop just yet.

“I can handle myself,” she says. “I’ve been in the employ of more powerful men than him.”

“Is that so?” Pepper raises an eyebrow, all poise and quiet amusement, and Natalie _wants._ Natasha, of course, knows better, and when Pepper lays a hand over top of hers (not pushy or forward, not Pepper, but even where she’s only offering support, her interest is clear enough), Natasha pulls away with a polite smile.

“Don’t worry about me, Ms. Potts.” She can handle Tony, can hold this op together, can keep herself from breaking Pepper apart. _Easy._

* * *

News of Pepper and Tony’s breakup spreads quickly through Stark Tower—the Avengers Tower, now—because the other members of her team are gossiping teenagers. The stories are varying in both detail and degree of credibility, and Pepper and Tony themselves are keeping quiet, neither confirming or denying. The only thing Natasha is sure of is that it was amicable; it’s surprising, given how volatile their relationship had seemed at times, but they seem to be happier with each other now than they have been in a while.

Natasha doesn’t have any intentions of asking, because it’s not her business. Gathering intelligence might be one of her talents, but not in cases like this, where it won’t… it won’t change anything, and it seems easier not to know. The choice is taken from her when she passes through the common area in the Avengers’ living quarters and sees Pepper on the sofa, watching Downton Abbey with a half-full glass of wine and a half-empty bottle.

“You okay?” Natasha asks quietly, once she’s wandered into Pepper’s line of sight.

“Happy loves this show,” Pepper says, gesturing vaguely at the television. “He keeps telling me to watch it, but I haven’t had the time, and… I was expecting a lot more female nudity, if I’m being honest.”

Natasha snorts and sits down next to her. “Isn’t this a PBS show?”

“Well, I know that _now_ ,” Pepper says, shrugging and taking a large swallow of her wine. “Happy has hidden depths. It kind of drags, though. So melodramatic. I’ve got enough of that in real life, thanks.” She rolls her eyes.

“Did you… want to talk about it?”

“I could use some company,” Pepper says evasively, then points at the screen. “I’m pretty sure that one’s in love with that one, but they’re all so British it’s hard to tell.”

Natasha _hmms_ at that, and at Pepper’s occasional commentary for two more episodes, idly contemplating the hassle of ordering food to be delivered to the Tower and having to coordinate with security to get it upstairs. The show isn’t really her thing, but Pepper is leaning against her side now, the wine all but gone, so it’s easy to enjoy it anyway.

“Tony dumped _me_ , you know.” Natasha blinks over at her. “Not that—I mean, it’s fine, it’s good, it was a mature adult process.” Her words are a bit slurred, her head resting on Natasha’s shoulder, and Natasha would feel guilty for taking advantage, but she’s never claimed to be an honorable person.

“Oh?” she asks, neutral.

“He’s not… not in a good place to be in a romantic relationship right now. He keeps trying to make Bruce give him therapy cause he doesn’t like the S.H.I.E.L.D. psychologists, but I think it’s actually working. It’s good, you know? I mean, it’s always been just Rhodey and me, but he’s got a group now. He needs people. He needs _me_ , you know, and I need him, but we were too… too wrapped up, I guess. It confused things.”

“So… you’re okay with that?”

Pepper rolls her head on Natasha’s shoulder, blinking up at her. “Yes? It’s weird, but things are. Good. Things are good. I love Tony, but we’re both better like this, I think.”

Natasha nods and gives her what she hopes is an encouraging smile. “I’m glad,” she says, but she’s worried it comes out more selfish than supportive, so she changes tacks. “You should eat something,” she tries. “I was thinking about ordering Indian.”

“Mmm,” Pepper nods, hair brushing Natasha’s neck. “you gotta go downstairs and get it, though. I think it’s bad for morale for them to see me all, _you know_.” She gestures at the bottle of wine.

“No need to stir up the gossip mill,” Natasha agrees, extracting herself from Pepper and pulling out her phone. “I’ll take care of you, don’t worry about it.”

“Spoken like Natalie Rushman,” Pepper says, smiling softly up at her. “You’re the best, you know?”

Natasha just laughs, because the collar of Pepper’s blouse has slid down, and her hair is falling loose out of its ponytail, and Natasha feels very confident that she is, in fact, the worst.

* * *

Natasha doesn’t avoid Pepper for the next few weeks, exactly, but the Tower is a big place and they both have jobs to do. It’s better, she thinks, because as the reasons why she walked away from Pepper in the first place stop being reasons, it’s hard to come up with new ones. Of course, she’s not expecting to come across Pepper muttering creative curses when she’s on her way to the gym.

“Hey, is everything— _whoa,_ ” Natasha says, hands up defensively as Pepper whirls around to scowl at her. She starts to ask again, but then she sees the drops of blood on the tile. “What happened?”

“It’s this stupid—” Pepper makes a broken, frustrated noise, opening her hand to reveal a pile of broken glass and circuitry. Her hand is healed already, but it’s easy to see where the blood came from. “This is the second one this month, and I didn’t mean to, but sometimes it’s like people have _no_ grasp of professionalism, and I, I just—” When she looks up at Natasha, there’s an orange glow in her eyes that makes Natasha’s heart race.

“ _Pepper_.” She takes Pepper by the shoulders. “It’s fine. _You’re_ fine. You’re just adapting. I’m sure Tony can make you a more durable phone; those StarkPhones look like a strong wind could pull them apart anyway.”

“You don’t have to coddle me,” Pepper says, but she obviously relaxes. “I haven’t told Tony. I’d like to handle it myself before I make him worry.”

“I understand,” Natasha tells her, because even if she knows better, her first instinct would probably be the same. She pauses. “I was about to head to the gym. Do you want to come spar with me?”

Pepper laughs at that, letting it taper off when she sees that Natasha is serious. “I don’t think I’m quite up to that level,” she says, still smiling. “Sparring with the Black Widow seems a little ambitious, don’t you think?”

“You’re stronger, I’ve got more training,” Natasha says. “We’ll balance each other out.”

“Yeah,” Pepper says after a minute. “That might be good.”

“Good.” Natasha smiles sharply before turning toward the gym again. “And besides, you’re sparring with Natasha. The Black Widow doesn’t spar, she incapacitates.”

“Oh, I feel _so_ much better,” Peppers says, dry and a little breathless. “Can’t wait.”

* * *

It becomes clear very quickly that Natasha didn’t think this through. After heading upstairs to change, Pepper had appeared in the gym in snug black pants and a tank top, hair twisted up in a bun and looking a lot like Natasha remembered from the footage she’d watched (and rewatched, and rewatched).

“Ready?” she’d asked, and Natasha definitely hadn’t been.

She runs Pepper through some basic moves, and she realizes pretty quickly that Pepper’s studied fighting techniques before, bringing Natasha suddenly and unexpectedly to the ground with a maneuver that looks suspiciously like Krav Maga. When she cocks an eyebrow, Pepper just rolls her eyes.

“After Tony first made the suit, I realized I needed to be able to take care of myself. Not that it did me much good, but. At least I got the drop on _you_.” She gives Natasha a teasing smile, and Natasha huffs a laugh.

“I hope you enjoyed it,” she says. “Nobody’s ever managed it twice.”

After that it’s… it’s _fun_ , helping Pepper control her strength for maximum effectiveness, and enjoying the breathless exhilaration that comes from fighting someone so much stronger than her. She’s not crazy, and she doesn’t enjoy that as a general rule, but… it’s _Pepper_. She isn’t pulling her punches, but Natasha can feel a sense of certainty deep in her chest that Pepper doesn’t actually want to _hurt_ her. That feeling is confirmed when—

“Oh, _shit_ , sorry! I’m so sorry!” Pepper jogs over to Natasha, lying on the mats where she’d landed after Pepper accidentally tossed her into the wall. She’s fine, if a bit bruised, because the padding in the Avengers’ gym is designed for, well, Avengers, but Pepper’s open concern sends a rush of warmth through her. She waits until Pepper’s standing over her and shoots a leg out, hooking Pepper’s ankle and knocking her off balance.

Pepper hits the ground with an _oof_ and her eyes go wide with surprise as Natasha rolls on top of her, pinning her wrists at her sides.

“I forgive you,” Natasha says, smiling sweetly when Pepper only makes a weak attempt to pull free.

“You’re such a _faker_ ,” Pepper accuses, but she’s smiling too, the glow under her skin this time not from Extremis, but from happiness and exertion. She’s panting and covered with a light sheen of sweat, and Natasha decides, just this once, to try doing what she wants.

Pepper makes a shocked noise when Natasha leans down to slot their mouths together, and there’s an instant when she twists her arms free that Natasha fears that she’s misjudged it entirely, but Pepper only reaches up to pull Natasha closer, one hand on her back and one threaded in her hair. It’s Natasha’s turn to let a noise slip free as Pepper lets her legs fall apart and Natasha fits in between them.

She rocks forward, nipping at Pepper’s mouth and sliding their tongues together, and she’s just barely feeling like she’s got a handle on things when Pepper hooks a leg around hers and flips them so she’s on top.

The image of Pepper straddling her, strands of hair loose and slipping over her shoulders, is too much for Natasha to stand. She levers herself upright so Pepper’s in her lap, kissing her again and groaning when Pepper grinds her hips down. After a few moments, though, Pepper is pulling away and pushing back at Natasha’s shoulders.

“We can’t—” she begins, and Natasha nods, dropping her hands from where they’d been wrapped around Pepper’s back. Pepper just shakes her head though, standing up and reaching a hand out to Natasha. “I mean, we can’t _here_. We’d never live it down.”

Natasha lets out the breath she’d been holding, quirking her mouth and nodding in agreement before taking Pepper’s hand. There’s a part of her that she’s not entirely proud of that doesn’t mind the idea of everybody seeing firsthand that Pepper—Pepper, who’s far too good for her and who always seems to make the right decisions—has decided on Natasha, but the bigger part of her knows that this isn’t _for_ them. When Pepper tugs her hand and leads her toward the elevator, Natasha lets herself be pulled.

**Author's Note:**

> the next morning natasha limps into the kitchen looking for coffee, and there is a brief group freak-out over what happened, are you okay, _why didn't you call for help_
> 
> and then pepper wanders out of natasha's quarters a minute later, wearing one of natasha’s old worn-out t-shirts and eying the bruises on natasha’s collarbone sort of guiltily but sort possessively, and bruce makes a horrible aggrieved noise and hands clint twenty dollars
> 
> tony catches natasha's eye and gives her a big exaggerated wink and she just stares him down until he apologizes and gets them both coffee


End file.
